As the Fintech snowball gathers pace there is news of another event for this burgeoning segment. Co-hosted by Next Bank and FinTech Hong Kong, FF16 is a two-day event dedicated to fintech, being held as part of the StartmeupHK Festival. Forty fintech startups from across Asia will showcase their products in the Startup Village. The top 24 will be invited to demonstrate their products live, on stage in front of 1,000 delegates.

Early stage, growth stage and mature stage companies are being invited to apply. There are three ways to be selected to participate: online applications are being accepted now until November 30th , incubator and accelerator partners including Innotribe, Startupbootcamp and Nest will nominate teams from their programmes. Six places will be up for grabs from semi-final pitch days to be held in Singapore, Seoul, Bangalore, Mumbai, Kuala Lumpur and Sydney in December.

Next Bank founder, Rob Findlay, commented: “FF16 will kick-off the New Year with a massive celebration of fintech and innovation in the financial services industry in Asia. Not only are we bringing together some of the biggest thought leaders in fintech globally, we’re also giving budding fintech entrepreneurs the opportunity to pitch their ideas alongside some of the region’s top fintech startups. FF16 cements Hong Kong’s position as a leading fintech hub in Asia and globally. We’re delighted to work very closely with Visa on the event.”

Matt Dill, Senior Vice President, Innovation & Strategic Partnerships, Visa stated, "There are tremendous entrepreneurs in cities all across Asia focused on financial limitations or opportunities that affect their communities. Visa is excited to bring some of these untold stories to the public stage, and we look forward to working with companies large and small to accelerate the speed and scale of financial innovation by utilising the power of Visa's global network."

In addition to the finals, FF16 will bring together the fintech community to hear global thought leaders, including Matthias Kroner, CEO, Fidor Bank and Chris Skinner, Chairman, Financial Services Club.

Visa is also announcing support for Next Bank City chapters throughout Asia including Bangalore, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Manila, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo. Next Bank city chapters provide a local forum for banks, fintech startups, and retailers to meet and collaborate on local issues and/or opportunities in the world of finance.